Search Window

How to use IntelliWebSearch

If you chose not to run IntelliWebSearch at Windows start-up, the first time you decide to use it you need to run it from the Start>Programs menu or the desktop icon (if created during installation). IntelliWebSearch opens in the background and a red “i” icon appears in the system tray.

Highlight the words you wish to search for on the Internet in the application you are using and press the shortcut key which launches IntelliWebSearch (by default CTRL+ALT+B). If you wish to search for words which are not on the screen, right click the IntelliWebSearch icon in the system tray and choose Search or simply press CTRL+ALT+B without highlighting any text.

The Search Window appears.

Figure 1 – Search Window

Decide if you want to strip any numerals (0-9) in the search string (industrial revolution in the example in figure 1) with Strip numbers. If numerals have already been stripped by default, this button is called Restore numbers and can be used to put the numbers back. Make the same decision for the punctuation with Strip punctuation (or Restore punctuation). Do this before doing any other search string editing. The keys can be toggled with ALT+N and ALT+P respectively. To return to the edit box without using the mouse, press ALT+Z.

Edit the search string if necessary. You can add Boolean operators (AND, OR, etc.) and field limitations (intitle, inurl, etc.) if compatible with the search engine/dictionary/encyclopaedia concerned*.

Decide if the search string should be enclosed in quotation marks, i.e. “industrial revolution”, rather than industrial revolution (Quotes?). Many search engines look for words enclosed in quotation marks as a fixed string rather than separate words. Do not enable this box if you have added Boolean operators or field limitations. In this case you will have to type in any quotes needed where appropriate by hand. Quotes can also be toggled with ALT+Q. If you wish to return to the edit box after toggling quotes, use the mouse or ALT+Z.

If you decide not to enclose the search string in quotation marks, you may have IntelliWebSearch put a plus sign in front of every word. This forces many search engines to search for stop words and, in some cases, disables automatic stemming. Do not enable this box if you have added Boolean operators or field limitations. In this case you will have to type in any pluses needed where appropriate by hand. Pluses can also be toggled with ALT+P. If you wish to return to the edit box after toggling pluses, use the mouse or ALT+Z.

If you do not like how the program has processed the string, you can paste the original raw string into the search box with CTRL+V.

Click one of the 10 user preset searches marked 1-10 (or press ALT+n, where n is a number from 0 to 9) or click the PluriSearch (ALT+L) orGroupSearch (ALT+S) buttons. If you want to use the default button (labelled in blue, or bold if the PluriSearch or GroupSearch buttons are default), just hit ENTER. If the search you want is not in the group displayed, select a new group from the dropdown list on the right of the GroupSearch button (Alt+G). If you want to launch a search on all ten buttons in a group at (almost) the same time, click the GroupSearchbutton (v. 3.1.0.28 or later).

Your browser or local dictionary automatically opens and the search results are displayed.

The whole process is in fact very quick and simple since often only two keystrokes are required, i.e. CTRL+ALT+B followed by ALT+n (or ENTER). If you wish to bypass the Search Window and look for the search string with particular search settings, you can define a direct Shortcut key. Alternatively, if you wish to bypass the Search Window and look for the search string in several resources almost simultaneously, you can use the PluriSearch Shortcut key combination (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+B by default).